Officers in human trafficking probe

TWO Thai army officers – one of them a colonel – have been suspended over alleged involvement in trafficking members of Burma’s Rohingya minority to a third country.

More than 800 Rohingya were found in raids this month in the southern Thai province of Songkhla after they fled sectarian violence in western Burma which has killed hundreds and displaced around 100,000 since last June.

Thai police arrested eight trafficking suspects in one raid and are searching for three others, including a local politicians.

Southern region army commander Lieutenant General Udomchai Thammasarorat said he has set up a committee to probe the claims and that the two officers have been suspended pending the investigation.